For this essay I aim to show the importance of memory and of remembering the past in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. The Handmaid’s Tale is a ‘speculative fiction’ first published in 1985 but set in the early 2000s. The novel was in response to changes in US politics with the emergence of Christian fundamentalism‚ the New Right. Atwood believed that society was going wrong and wrote this savage satire‚ similar to Jonathan Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal’‚ depicting a dystopia which she uses as
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Too Jaded to Write about Love An allusion is a casual or passing reference to a famous historical or fictional character. In poetry‚ allusions are often used to help reinforce a point or characterize the speaker or the addressee. In the case of Margaret Atwood’s poems‚ “Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing” and “Sekhmet Lion-Headed Goddess of War”‚ allusions are used to empower and change the way we view the female speaker. This is especially obvious in “Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing”
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In the poem “Siren Song” by Margaret Atwood‚ a siren is a creature that constantly manipulates people. In the Odyssey‚ Calypso‚ embodies the traits of Atwood’s ‘siren’ because she uses her goddess stature to tempt Odysseus into staying with her‚ ultimately conveying that women can be equally as powerful as men. In Atwood’s “Siren Song” she makes the siren out to be a manipulative creature that constantly manipulates to get what she wants. As the siren in Atwood’s poem ends her song‚ the reader was
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Born from a white mother and a black father‚ Bessie Head grew up in the early stages of Apartheid South Africa. In Maru she reflects upon her own experiences of love‚ loneliness and prejudice. Prejudice spreads as one discriminates against another and creates false images. Love contradicts loneliness‚ which diminishes as the plot progresses. Prejudice affects love and promotes loneliness. Initially one may assume that prejudice is only between different races. However‚ Bessie Head displays tribal
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Land of the Entitled‚ Home of the Desecrated In Margaret Atwood’s “Backdrop Addresses Cowboy” the title indicates that the speaker is the backdrop‚ or scenery‚ addressing a self-absorbed and naive cowboy. The cowboy represents the imperialistic nature of Americans‚ and the scope extends past the days of cowboys‚ settlers‚ and Native Americans‚ and can even be applied to our nation’s present state. Margaret Atwood is Canadian‚ and expresses her anti-American sentiments through her poem‚
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In Homer’s Greek epic poetry‚ "Odyssey"‚ the Sirens are described as devilish‚ mythical creatures while in Margaret Atwood’s poem‚ the "Siren Song"‚ are portrayed as innocent‚ mythical creatures trying to escape their fate while using tone‚ point of view‚ and monologue to each’s advantage of portrayals of the Sirens. Throughout‚the encounter of the Sirens in the "Odyssey"‚ Homer’s diction places the Sirens as villains preventing Odysseus from completing his journey. Homer writes‚ "...the Sirens
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Rhetorical Analysis of “The Children’s Era” Today‚ the availability of birth control is taken for granted. There was a time‚ not long passed‚ during which the subject was illegal (“Margaret Sanger‚” 2013‚ p.1). That did not stop the resilient leader of the birth control movement. Margaret Sanger was a nurse and women’s activist. While working as a nurse‚ Sanger treated many women who had suffered from unsafe abortions or tried to self-induce abortion (p.1). Seeing this devastation and noting
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Environmental and social conducts contribute to the development of the human mind. The environment of a household and the time period of a century are examples of the influences that affect a human beings psyche. In the novel The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood depicts the lives of two sisters‚ who demonstrate the pain of dishonesty and the effects of a person’s chosen path. Atwood conveys the conscious‚ preconscious‚ and the unconsciousness of Iris Chase through her memoirs. The early childhood
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Robert Walton’s letters to Margaret Saville contain details about his voyage to the North pole. In the first letter Robert explains his plan to discover and be the first to inhabit the North Pole. Walton hopes he will be recognized for his voyage and has tons of confidence in himself. He also explains how he plans to get there‚ he will hire a crew and vessel to help him reach his destination. In letter 2 walton hires a vessel and crew just like he planned but he still desires one more thing. Walton
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The Loyalty and Loss written by Margaret M. Storey is a well-written and persuasive book studying how the Unionists in Alabama‚ the Deep South state‚ confronted the Confederate authorities during the civil war and their life in the Reconstruction. The first interesting thing I found was that the diversity of the Unionists. The author tried to find the similarities among the different Unionists and surprisingly she found out that the Unionists were highly distributed. Some of them could from the
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